


Unheimlich

by J_D_McCormick



Series: Heart On Your Sleeve, Soul By Your Side [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Alternate Universe - His Dark Materials Fusion, Gen, Non Consensual Daemon Touching, Talia as an answer to Mrs Coulter, forgive me for that, it has been a long while since i read any HDM
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-15
Updated: 2019-11-15
Packaged: 2021-01-31 04:02:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21439891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/J_D_McCormick/pseuds/J_D_McCormick
Summary: Unheimlich: according to Schelling, everything that ought to have remained secret and hidden but has come to light.Dick experiences for the first time why The Taboo exists. Damian already knows.
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Damian Wayne
Series: Heart On Your Sleeve, Soul By Your Side [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1545694
Comments: 5
Kudos: 96





	Unheimlich

**Author's Note:**

> It has been a long while since I read anything HDM, and I have yet to watch the BBC show, so forgive me if anything is slightly off because of bad memory.
> 
> Daemons:  
Dick - Diletta, a crow.  
Bruce - Shamira, a panther.  
Damian - Amina, unsettled.

Assassins. There’s been a lot of them recently, Talia al Ghul's doing no doubt. They're fast and quiet and nimble, but Dick is all of those things too. It's a challenge to deal with them all, but he can do it-

He shouts out as an electric, visceral almost-pain goes through him. Though their deep unspeakable bond, he knows that someone has his daemon - that they're holding her, squeezing her too tight, and he feels sick to his bones. He collapses to his knees, gasping, shaking, trying not to retch as the horrible sensation shivers through him in unending waves. Two assassins grab his arms, pulling them behind his back, exposing his chest and the vulnerable place where the cowl exposes his throat.

"I suspected you were not my beloved." Talia's voice calls to him. He looks over, and sees she has Diletta in her hands. "You have impressive moves, but not much of his cunning."

"Let her go." Dick gasps, struggling weakly in the assassins' grasps. He can see his daemon doing the same, but Talia's grip is tight, pressing at her fragile wings. "Please."

“You lack much of his strength as well, I see.” Talia hums. Dick tries to think of a retort, his throat working, but all he manages is a thin whine.

He watches Talia as she hands off Diletta to another assassin; Diletta twists and writhes and pecks at the new hands, but they hold her just as tight and secure.

“Of course, you can see that in your daemon’s form. Shamira was a beautiful creature, full of power and grace, just as my beloved was. Yours is sadly lacking.” Talia moves closer, now looming over Dick where he’s forced down onto his knees. Her daemon, a sleek Golden Lion Tamarin, clambers down from her shoulder, briefly circling Dick and the assassins – Dick watches him bare his teeth and push at the daemons of the assassins holding him. “And I won’t allow my son to be raised by such a person. I’m here to retrieve him.”

“You won’t…. get him.” Dick manages to growl out through gritted teeth. “I… won’t let you. He belongs he-here.”

The daemon is still wandering around the ranks when a shadowy shape moves towards it, and suddenly what had been a small mouse was a panther, all teeth and claws. Talia’s daemon yelps as he’s attacked, then in a moment he’s attacking back fiercely, baring his own teeth and using little hands to tug harshly on fur. Talia turns to look, and makes a beeline over to the two.

Dick can’t help but gasp as he watches her grab the panther by the scruff – seeing her so blatantly, so uncaringly, break The Taboo, shocks him even as he still feels the pain-pressure of another’s hands on his daemon - and pin it down, the daemon writhing and hissing.

“Amina!” Talia’s daemon barks, and Dick feels another swoop in his stomach as he realises the daemon is Damian’s. He casts around for his younger brother, afraid for the sick feeling of pain-violation-fear that he must be experiencing.

“Unhand Grayson and his daemon.” Amina hisses, her form shrinking down to that of a sleek black cat, but still struggling and hissing. “And unhand me.”

“Do not presume to order me, child-” Talia begins, and then one of her assassins cries out and crumples.

Dick watches in nothing short of open-mouthed astonishment as Robin lands lightly from having kicked an assassin in the head. In another quick movement, he swings the baton Dick has given him to replace his katana into the daemon of the man holding Diletta, and all at once Dick can breathe again.

“Dick!” He hears her call, and then with a flutter of feathers she’s in his arms and he presses her to his chest, clutching her desperately close to him. Relief feels almost like a physical force ballooning in his ribcage, even as he shudders bodily in fits and starts. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knows he should stand, move, help Damian with fighting off the assassins, but the thought never quite makes it to action, and instead he just stays there, curled around Diletta as she nuzzles up under his chin.

He hears a quiet hiss of pain from Damian, and finally, looks up. He’s locked up in a stalemate with his mother, a small blade pressed to her throat as she grips tightly to Amina and presses her bodily to the ground. Damian’s foot is pinning one of Talia’s daemon’s hands to the ground, and Dick notes that it’s just enough to restrict, but not enough to truly hurt or injure. There is just the slightest tremble to Damian’s hand, but he stands tall and proud and firm.

“You have not forgotten your training, _ya ibni_.” Talia says, voice soft and smooth and almost fond. “You are still as fierce as always.”

“Release her, Mother.” He says lowly. “And return home.”

“Return with me.” Talia murmurs. “I left you with your father, not this vagabond of his. I gave you to him to advance your training; not to let it rot away.”

“No, Mother.” Damian says, scowling a little. “I won’t come with you. This is my home, here. They have taught me much, and what they have shown me is… different to what the League taught. I don’t wish to return.”

Talia is quiet and still for a moment – Damian’s knife presses up under her chin. Below them, Talia’s daemon reaches out to Amina, stroking a little hand over her fur, cupping her cheek and rubbing gently at her ears; Amina stares back, quiet and cool, but leans into every touch. Then Talia releases her grip and leans back from the knife, and Damian steps back, Amina slinking to his side. Talia reaches down, pulling her own daemon up and onto her shoulder.

“I will see you again soon, _ya ibni_.” Talia says levelly to Damian. She spares a last venomous look at Dick, and he feels Diletta’s feathers fluff up in response, before she turns and vanishes off into the night with her assassins following her.

Dick feels the last of the tension and fear drain from him, and gently releases his daemon from his protective grip. She’s quick to flutter over to Amina, perching on her shoulder and preening at her fur gently.

“She grabbed you so roughly.” She tuts softly as she runs each silky strand between her beak. Amina shakes her off, then shifts into a small round robin, and presents herself again to be preened. Diletta laughs, and continues, tucking the other daemon gently under her wing as she does so. Dick carefully stands and walks over to Damian, putting a hand gently on his shoulder.

“Are you alright?” He asks gently. “That must have hurt a lot.”

“No. I am fine.” Damian says dismissively.

“It hurt me.” Dick points out, and Damian slumps a little, leaning into Dick’s touch. The elder draws his younger brother close.

“I have been trained to withstand it.” Damian confesses in a soft whisper. “It is key to League training – to hold against attacks to one’s daemon, even by means of physical contact.” He turns his face to hide it in Batman’s cape. “It still hurts but I can fight through it.”

Dick feels the nausea rise in his throat again, and looks over to see Diletta keening softly as she presses Amina to the downy feathers of her underside, like she can hide her there like a chick and keep her safe. What he had felt had been overwhelming, all-consuming – he can’t imagine ever being able to push through the desperate hurt and fear and need to keep fighting, to stand steady or land accurate blows. His mind shies from the thought of ever being acclimatised to it, recoiling violently, and looking down at Damian, still small and fragile and young and knowing that he _is_, that he has been forced to be… It’s almost as sickening as seeing his daemon in another’s hand.

“I’m sorry.” Dick tells him softly as he hugs him tight and wraps his cape around his shoulders. He can’t think of anything else to say. He cannot take away the horrific experiences, and he cannot guarantee they will never happen again – he thinks that Damian knows Dick would never enforce such training himself, but who’s to say another villain won’t think to? – and Talia is certainly not finished with them. All he can do is try his best to comfort.

“Let’s get home and wrap up warm.” Diletta says softly, still tucking Amina’s feathers into place. “I think hot chocolate and a movie sounds good.”

“You always have the best ideas Lettie.” Dick smiles a little. He squeezes Damian gently and then releases him – Diletta gently nudges Amina towards her human, and she flitters up to nestle against Damian’s throat, tucked under the folds of his hood. Damian turns his face to rub his cheek against her feathers, and she shifts again into a small ferret, more suited for cuddling close and providing soft fur to nuzzle into; in the movement, Dick can see that Damian’s heart aches to do as he had, and hold his daemon close and tight. Perhaps he will do so in the dark privacy of night, when he is alone.

Dick suddenly has a better insight into why, perhaps, Damian is not so outwardly affectionate and close with his daemon.

That perhaps, being so would be a danger, in the League.

Dick decides, as he guides Damian into the Batmobile, as Diletta stays perched firmly on his shoulder where usually she would swoop and fly around his head, that the League of Assassins requires a much more thorough look into than he had thought. Many things have come to light tonight, which should never be. He thinks maybe, it’s time to figure them out.

But that can wait.

Hot chocolate, movies and cuddles come first.

**Author's Note:**

> For those interested, Talia's daemon is called Mahir. There's some deeper lore regarding the League and daemons that I've come up with, but I think I'll keep that for some later fics. If you know The Northern Lights, though, you might be able to guess some of it.
> 
> Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed, and as always any feedback is very much appreciated!!


End file.
